Frank Matcham: Difference between revisions
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'''Frank Matcham''' (1854-1920) was a famous theatrical [[architect]] |
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==Career== |
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Matcham and two architects he helped to train, [[Bertie Crewe]] and [[W.G.R. Sprague]], were together responsible for the majority - certainly more than 200 - of the theatres and variety palaces of the great building boom which took place in Britain between about 1890 and 1915, peaking at the turn of the century <ref>http://www.thelondonseason.com/newvenues.htm</ref> |
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| ⚫ | Matcham himself designed [[Buxton Opera House]] and the Royall Hall (Kursaal), [[Harrogate]] in [[1903]]. He also designed several famous [[London]] [[theatre]]s: the [[Hackney Empire]] ([[1901]]), the [[London Coliseum]] ([[1904]]), the [[London Palladium]] ([[1910]]), and the [[Victoria Palace Theatre|Victoria Palace]] ([[1911]]). |
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Matcham is remembered in [[Northern Ireland]] for his design of the [[Grand Opera House (Belfast)|Grand Opera House]] (opened December 1895) on Great Victoria Street, [[Belfast]]. |
Matcham is remembered in [[Northern Ireland]] for his design of the [[Grand Opera House (Belfast)|Grand Opera House]] (opened December 1895) on Great Victoria Street, [[Belfast]]. |
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Revision as of 22:39, 20 May 2006
Frank Matcham (1854-1920) was a famous theatrical architect
Career
Matcham and two architects he helped to train, Bertie Crewe and W.G.R. Sprague, were together responsible for the majority - certainly more than 200 - of the theatres and variety palaces of the great building boom which took place in Britain between about 1890 and 1915, peaking at the turn of the century [1]
Matcham himself designed Buxton Opera House and the Royall Hall (Kursaal), Harrogate in 1903. He also designed several famous London theatres: the Hackney Empire (1901), the London Coliseum (1904), the London Palladium (1910), and the Victoria Palace (1911).
Matcham is remembered in Northern Ireland for his design of the Grand Opera House (opened December 1895) on Great Victoria Street, Belfast.
Matcham also designed theatres in Scotland: in Aberdeen, there were His Majesty's Theatre and the Tivoli Theatre and, in Edinburgh, the former Empire Palace Theatre, now the Edinburgh Festival Theatre.
Preserving the legacy
In 1982 it was estimated that 85% of the theatres that had lit up our towns and cities in 1914 had been lost - 35 of them, including 20 of Matcham's, in London alone. Because, unlike what John Betjeman and Simon Jenkins had done for parish churches, no one had heard of Matcham, Bertie Crewes, Gilbert Scotts, JL Pearson, GE Street, CJ Phipps, William Sprague and Walter Emden.
That gross neglect came to an end with one too many proposed ruthless destructions: the Granville Theatre in Walham Green, in 1971, where the Greater London Council stepped in to stop a developer. This incident brought about the formation of the Frank Matcham Society, and the preservation of our entertainment industry [2]
References
External links
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